Three Clayton Cigals spanning four generations at the Southwick/Granville CROP Hunger Walk Recruiter’s meeting last month. (Photo by Amy Porter)
SOUTHWICK – On Sunday, residents of Southwick and Granville will step out for the forty-first year in a row to express their concern and raise money for people all over the world who have to walk every day for food, shelter, water or mere survival.
CROP Hunger Walks are the oldest in the country, and the Southwick/Granville CROP Walk is the longest running in New England. CROP Hunger Walks also raise money for Church World Services (CWS) disaster response here in the U.S. and around the world. Currently, CWS is helping Oklahoma tornado victims with a recent shipment of 1,500 CWS hygiene kits, 300 school kits, 300 blankets, 210 baby kits and 185 emergency cleanup buckets.
The Southwick/Granville CROP Hunger Walk is a Cigal family-led event, with several dozen members of four generations of Cigals coming together to coordinate, organize, and inspire the community to keep in mind children, no matter where they live, who don’t have enough to eat. A quarter of the CROP Walk’s proceeds go to the Southwick Food Pantry, as well as to impoverished communities around the world. Clayton Cigal, Sr. always says that as long as one child still goes to bed hungry, he’ll keep going.
The CROP Hunger Walk is also a festive event, with music and food, t-shirts and balloons, and a lot of good vibrations. It’s not too late to sign up. Registration begins at 12 p.m. at the Southwick Congregational Church at 488 College Highway in Southwick.
Each walker will be given a free t-shirt bearing the names of local business sponsors.
The walk route goes down Depot Street to the Rail Trail, then to the end of Congamond Road and back to the church. Along the way, there will be rest stops with homemade cookies, candy and plenty of water. At the end of the walk, the Cigal family, sponsors and volunteers – many from the Southwick Rotary Club – will show their appreciation with an old-fashioned picnic, along with live musical entertainment by Sam Chevalier.
People may register online for the walk at www.cropwalkonline.org/southwickma. For more information, contact Clayton Cigal, Sr. at 413-569-3371, Clayton Cigal, Jr., at [email protected] or treasurer Marie Daniels at [email protected].
